Afloat and Ashore (64 page)

The two ships, in the haste of their respective crews to get clear of
each other, were now running in the troughs; and the same idea would
seem to have suggested itself to me and the other master, at the same
instant. Instead of endeavouring to keep away again, one kept his helm
hard a-port, the other as hard a-starboard, until we both came by the
wind, though on opposite tacks. The Englishman set his mizen-stay-sail,
and though he made bad weather of it, he evidently ran much less risk
than in scudding. The seas came on board him constantly; but not in a
way to do any material damage. As for the Dawn, she lay-to, like a
duck, under bare poles. I had a spare stay-sail, stopped up in her
mizen-rigging, from the top down, and after that the ship was both
easy and dry. Once in a while, it is true, her bows would meet some
fellow heavier than common, and then we got a few hogsheads of water
forward; but it went out to leeward as fast as it came in to
windward. At the turn of the day, however, the gale broke, and the
weather moderated sensibly; both sea and wind beginning to go down.

Had we been alone, I should not have hesitated about bearing up,
getting some sail on the ship, and running off on my course, again;
but, the desire to speak the stranger, and have some communication
with Marble, was so strong, that I could not make up my mind to do
so. Including myself, Talcott, Neb, the cabin-steward, and six of the
people forward, there were ten of us on board, who knew the ex-mate;
and, of the whole ten, there was not a dissenting voice concerning his
identity. I determined, therefore, to stick by the Englishman, and at
least have some communication with my old friend. As for myself, I own
I loved Marble, uncouth and peculiar as he sometimes was. I owed him
more than any other man living, Mr. Hardinge excepted; for he had made
me a seaman, having been of use to me professionally, in a hundred
ways. Then we had seen so much in company, that I regarded him as a
portion of my experience, and as, in some measure, identified with my
own nautical career.

I was afraid at one moment, that the Englishman intended to remain as
he was, all night; but, about an hour before sunset, I had the
gratification to see him set his fore-sail, and keep off. I had wore
round, two hours before, to get the Dawn's head on the same tack with
him, and followed under bare poles. As the stranger soon set his
main-top-sail close reefed, and then his fore, it enabled us to make a
little sail also, in order to keep up with him. This we did all that
night; and, in the morning, both ships were under everything that
would draw, with a moderate breeze from the northward, and no great
matter of sea going. The English vessel was about a league to leeward
of us, and a little ahead. Under such circumstances, it was easy to
close. Accordingly, just as the two ships' companies were about to go
to breakfast, the Dawn ranged up under the lee-quarter of the
stranger.

"What ship's that?" I hailed, in the usual manner.

"The Dundee; Robert Ferguson, master—what ship's that?"

"The Dawn; Miles Wallingford. Where are you from?"

"From Rio de Janeiro, bound to London. Where are
you
from?"

"From New York, to Bordeaux. A heavy blow we have just had of it."

"Quite; the like of it, I've not seen in many a day. You've a pratty
sea-boat, yon!"

"She made capital weather, in the late gale, and I've every reason to
be satisfied with her. Pray, haven't you an American on board, of the
name of Marble? We fancied that we saw the face of an old shipmate on
your taffrail, yesterday, and have kept you company in order to
inquire after his news."

"Ay, ay," answered the Scotch master, waving his hand. "The chiel
will be visiting you prasently. He's below, stowing away his dunnage;
and will be thanking you for a passage home, I'm thinking."

As these words were uttered, Marble appeared on deck, and waved his
hat, again, in recognition. This was enough; as we understood each
other, the two ships took sufficient room, and hove-to. We lowered our
boat, and Talcott went alongside of the Dundee, in quest of our old
shipmate. Newspapers and news were exchanged; and, in twenty minutes,
I had the extreme gratification of grasping Marble once more by the
hand.

My old friend was too much affected to speak, for some little time. He
shook hands with everybody, and seemed as much astonished as he was
delighted at finding so many of us together again; but not a syllable
did he utter for several minutes. I had his chest passed into the
cabin, and then went and took my seat alongside of him on the
hen-coops, intending to hear his story, as soon as he was disposed to
give it. But, it was no easy matter to get out of ear-shot of my
passengers. During the gale, they had been tongue-tied, and I had a
little peace; but, no sooner did the wind and sea go down, than they
broke out in the old spot, and began to do Boston, in the way they had
commenced. Now, Marble had come on board, in a manner so unusual, and
it was evident a secret history was to be revealed, that all three
took post in the companion-way, in a manner to render it impossible
anything material could escape them. I knew the folly of attempting a
change of position on deck; we should certainly be followed up; and,
people of this class, so long as they can make the excuse of saying
they heard any part of a secret, never scruple about inventing the
portions that happen to escape their ears. Consequently, I desired
Marble and Talcott to follow me; and, incontinently, I led the way
into the main-top. I was obeyed, the second-mate having the watch, and
all three of us were soon seated with our legs over the top-rim, as
comfortable as so many gossips, who had just finished their last cups,
have stirred the fire, and drawn their heads together to open a
fresh-budget. Neither Sarah nor Jane could follow us, thank God!

"There, d—n 'em" said I, a little pointedly; for it was enough to
make a much more, scrupulous person swear, "we've got the length of
the main-rigging between us, and I do not think they'll venture into
the top, this fine morning, in order to overhear what shall be
said. It would puzzle even Wallace Mortimer to do that, Talcott."

"If they do," observed Talcott, laughing, "we can retreat to the
cross-trees, and thence to the royal-yard."

Marble looked inquisitive, but, at the same time, he looked knowing.

"I understand," he said, with a nod; "three people with six sets of
ears—is it not so, Miles?"

"Precisely; though you only do them credit by halves, for you should
have added to this inventory forty tongues."

"Well, that is a large supply. The man, or woman, who is so well
provided, should carry plenty of ballast. However, as you say, they're
out of hail now, and must guess at all they repeat, if repeating it
can be called."

"Quite as much as nine-tenths of what they give as coming from
others," observed Talcott. "People never can tell so much of other
person's affairs, without bailing out most of their ideas from their
own scuttle-butts."

"Well, let them go to—Bordeaux—" said I, "since they are bound
there. And now, my dear Marble, here we are, and dying to know all
that has happened to you. You have firm friends in Talcott and myself;
either of us, ready to give you his berth for the asking."

"Thank'ee, my dear boys—thank'ee, with all my heart and soul,"
returned the honest fellow, dashing the moisture from his eyes, with
the back of his hand. "I believe you would, boys; I do believe you
would, one or both. I am glad, Miles, you came up into this bloody
top, for I wouldn't like to let your reg'lar 'long-shore harpies see a
man of my time of life, and one that has been to sea, now, man and
boy, close on to forty years, with as much blubber about him, as one
of your right whales. Well—and now for the log; for I suppose you'll
insist on overhauling it, lads?"

"That we shall; and see you miss no leaf of it. Be as particular as if
it were overhauled in an insurance case."

"Ay; they're bloody knaves, sometimes, them underwriters; und a fellow
need be careful to get his dues out of them—that is to say,
some
; others, ag'in, are gentlemen, down to their shoe-buckles,
and no sooner see a poor shipwrecked devil, than they open their
tills, and begin to count out, before he has opened his mouth."

"Well, but your own adventures, my old friend; you forget we are dying
with curiosity."

"Ay—your cur'osity's a troublesome inmate, and will never be quiet as
long as one tries to keep it under hatches; especially female
cur'osity. Well, I must gratify you; and so I'll make no more bones
about it, though its giving an account of my own obstinacy and
folly. I reckon, now, my boys, you missed me the day the ship sailed
from the island?"

"That we did, and supposed you had got tired of your experiment before
it began," I answered, "so were off, before we were ourselves."

"You had reason for so thinking; though you were out in your
reckoning, too. No; it happened in this fashion. After you left me, I
began to generalize over my sitiation, and I says to myself, says I,
'Moses Marble, them lads will never consent to sail and leave you here,
on this island, alone like a bloody hermit,' says I. 'If you want to
hold on,' says I, 'and try your hand at a hermitage,' says I, 'or to
play Robinson Crusoe,' says I, 'you must be out, of the way when the
Crisis, sails'—boys, what's become of the old ship? Not a word have I
heard about her, yet!"

"She was loading for London, when we sailed, her owners intending to
send her the same voyage over again."

"And they refused to let you have her, Miles, on account of your
youth, notwithstanding all you did for them?"

"Not so; they pressed me to keep her, but I preferred a ship of my
own. The Dawn is my property, Master Moses!"

"Thank God! then there is one honest chap among the owners. And how
did she behave? Had you any trouble with the pirates?"

Perceiving the utter uselessness of attempting to hear his own story
before I rendered an account of the Crisis, and her exploits, I gave
Marble a history of our voyage, from the time we parted down to the
day we reached New York.

"And that scaramouch of a schooner that the Frenchman gave us, in his
charity?"

"The Pretty Poll! She got home safe, was sold, and is now in the
West-India trade. There is a handsome balance, amounting to some
fourteen hundred dollars, in the owners' hands, coming to you from
prize-money and wages."

It is not in nature, for any man to be sorry he has money. I saw by
Marble's eyes, that this sum, so unusually large for him to possess,
formed a new tie to the world, and that he fancied himself a much
happier man in possessing it. He looked at me earnestly, for quite a
minute, and then remarked, I make no doubt with sincere regret—

"Miles, if I had a mother living, now, that money might make her old
age comfortable! It seems that they who have no mothers, have money,
and they who have no money, have mothers."

I waited a moment for Marble to recover his self-command, and then
urged him to continue his story.

"I was telling you how I generalized over my sitiation," resumed the
ex-mate, "as soon as I found myself alone in the hut. I came to the
conclusion that I should be carried off by force, if I remained till
next day; and so I got into the launch, carried her out of the lagoon,
taking care to give the ship a berth, went through the reef, and kept
turning to windward, until day-break. By that time, the island was
quite out of sight, though I saw the upper sails of the ship, as soon
as you got her under way. I kept the top-gallant-sails in sight, until
I made the island, again; and as you went off, I ran in, and took
possession of my dominions, with no one to dispute my will, or to try
to reason me out of my consait."

"I am glad to hear you term that notion a conceit, for, certainly, it
was not reason. You soon discovered your mistake, my old mess-mate,
and began to think of home."

"I soon discovered, Miles, that if I had neither father, nor mother,
brother nor sister, that I had a country and friends. The bit of
marble on which I was found in the stone-cutter's yard, then seemed as
dear to me as a gold cradle is to a king's son; and I thought of you,
and all the rest of you—nay, I yearned after you, as a mother would
yearn for her children."

"Poor fellow, you were solitary enough, I dare say—had you no
amusement with your pigs and poultry?"

"For a day or two, they kept me pretty busy. But, by the end of a
week, I discovered that pigs and poultry were not made to keep company
with man. I had consaited that I could pass the rest of my days in the
bosom of my own family, like any other man who had made, his fortune
and retired; but, I found my household too small for such a life as
that. My great mistake was in supposing that the Marble family could
be happy in its own circle."

This was said bitterly, though it was said drolly, and, while it made

Talcott and myself laugh, it also made us sorry.

"I fell into another mistake, however, boys," Marble continued, "and
it might as well be owned. I took it into my head that I should be all
alone on the island, but I found to my cost, that the devil insisted
on having his share. I'll tell you how it is, Miles; a man must either
look ahead, or look astarn; there is no such thing as satisfying
himself with the present moorings. Now, this was my misfortune; for,
ahead I had nothing to look forward to; and astarn, what comfort had I
in overhauling past sins!"

"I think I can understand your difficulties, my friend; how did you
manage to get rid of them?"

"I left the island. You had put the Frenchman's launch in capital
condition, and all I had to do was to fill up the breakers with fresh
water, kill a hog and salt him away, put on board a quantity of
biscuit, and be off. As for eatables, you know there was no scarcity
on the island, and I took my choice. I make no doubt there are twenty
hogsheads of undamaged sugars, at this very moment, in the hold of
that wreck, and on the beach of the island. I fed my poultry on it,
the whole time I staid."